Trump performs ‘the weave’ & attacks trans people at Florida retirement community

President Donald Trump delivered a meandering, campaign-style speech on Friday in The Villages, a popular retirement community in central Florida, blending economic promises aimed at seniors with sharp attacks on transgender Americans and a renewed embrace of the disco hit “Y.M.C.A.”

The event, held before a largely retired audience, was billed as a push to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits. But it unfolded as something closer to a free-form monologue, reflecting what Trump himself described as “the weave,” his tendency to jump between topics.

Trump cast his administration as ushering in a “golden age of America” while describing political opponents as “radical left lunatics.” The event also featured appearances or acknowledgments of allies, including Florida Republican officials and television personality Phil McGraw, who spoke in support of Trump’s agenda.

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The speech moved between policy claims, personal asides, and political attacks. Trump repeated familiar grievances about the press. “Trump on the evening news gets 93 percent bad publicity, 93,” he said and cast his presidency as uniquely successful.

At times, the tone turned jocular. Addressing the crowd, he quipped, “I’m much, much younger than the people in this room.”

“I love the weave because the weave is great,” Trump, who turns 80 in June, said.

Trump devoted a significant portion of the speech to criticizing transgender Americans, using inflammatory language about gender-affirming care and portraying such policies as a threat to the country.

“I believe our country was dead… I don’t think it could have sustained… transgender mutilization of your children,” he said.

Trump returned repeatedly to the issue of transgender athletes, describing their participation as a defining cultural fight. “Did you ever hear of something like that?” he said of policies allowing transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, adding, “It’s a real fight.”

He then launched into a lengthy anecdote about a women’s weightlifting competition, describing what he portrayed as a mismatch between cisgender and transgender athletes. “You ever see the weightlifting records? It’s like a 112-pound difference,” Trump said, before recounting a scenario in which a transgender competitor outperforms a woman who had trained for years.

The story, delivered in vivid and at times theatrical detail, culminated in Trump’s broader critique of inclusion policies. “The whole thing is crazy,” he said, arguing that Democrats support allowing “men to play in women’s sports.”

He paired those remarks with a renewed call for restrictions, saying his administration would seek to “enshrine in permanent law” a ban on transgender participation in women’s sports.

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“Men playing in women’s sports, they say that’s an 80/20 issue. It’s not. It’s a 99 to one issue,” Trump said.

Polling does not support that claim. A 2025 survey by the Pew Research Center found about 66 percent of U.S. adults favor requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their sex assigned at birth. Similarly, Gallup reported in 2025 that 69 percent of Americans support that position, while 24 percent say athletes should compete based on their gender identity, according to those organizations’ polling.

Trump also returned to one of the more curious fixtures of his political brand: “Y.M.C.A.,” the 1978 hit by Village People that has become a staple in MAGA world.

Trump claimed the song “went to number one” decades after its release. While “Y.M.C.A.” did return to No. 1 in 2024 on Billboard’s Dance and Electronic Digital Song Sales chart, where it spent about six weeks at the top, it did not reach No. 1 on the main U.S. singles chart. The song originally peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.

The song’s use has been controversial for years. Members of the group have at times asked Trump to stop using their music, even as licensing rules allowed it to continue, according to Pitchfork. Former band members have also publicly objected to the association, saying they would “never” endorse its use in that context, The Guardian reported.

At the same time, the band itself has been divided. Lead singer Victor Willis has at various points defended Trump’s use of the song and acknowledged that its popularity, while denying that it is a “gay anthem,” in a 2024 Facebook post.

But within Trump’s own orbit, the song is not universally embraced. He told the crowd that first lady Melania Trump “hates” his signature dance to the track, which he described as “sometimes referred to as the gay national anthem.”

Trump said, “She hates when I dance… She goes, ‘Darling, please don’t dance. It’s not presidential.’”